


Birds of a Feather

by Darkangel1214



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-28
Updated: 2013-05-27
Packaged: 2017-12-06 17:48:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/738403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkangel1214/pseuds/Darkangel1214
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver is in for the shock of his life when a fishnet stocking wearing, highly trained vigilante arrives in Starling City.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Ch 1

He was perched in the rafters looking down below at the warehouse, waiting. A few guys wandered in, bodyguards, thugs, they were greeted by the other side's bodyguards. Finally he heard a car pull up and he readied his bow as the person he was waiting for walked into the warehouse. Suddenly the lights went off. That was his move someone else had beaten him to it. He had his bow aimed but thedarkness made it impossible for him to see anything. He heard the paranoid commotion below, grunting, swearing, moaning and rapid gunfire. Then everything went deathly quiet and the lights came back on.

Oliver surveyed the ground below for movement, there was none. He dropped from his perch landed on his feet using his fingers spread like a tripod for balance. He stood up and pulled out on arrow, placed it on his bow and scanned around the warehouse. He walked over to man closest to him, took off his glove and held it in front of the man's nose. He felt his breath, he was alive. So the others were most likely too.

He was still kneeled over the man when he looked up and saw a feather floating down towards him. Oliver Queen's eyes followed the small black feather as it swayed back and forth and landed on the fallen man. Whoever had done this knocked seven armed men quickly and efficiently. He picked it up and looked it over; he didn't have much time because he heard the familiar sounds of sirens in the distance. The other person must have alerted the cops.

He sheathed his arrow and put the feather in his pocket and left.

Detective Lance surveyed the warehouse as the paramedics loaded the unconscious men onto the gurneys and cuffed them to the bars. They had been looking for Jensen Fleming for five years, each time they caught him they had nothing to hold him on. But now his men were busy freeing and talking to the fifty five women they found locked in non-working walk in freezer. They were all foreign and brought here on false promises of living the American dream through having sex for money they'd never see.

"Did the Hood stop using arrows?" One of his deputy's asked as he walked next to him.

Quentin Lance looked over at the men being loaded into the ambulance. He had seen the Hood not use his arrows just a few weeks ago with the Count. But some other part of him told him that this wasn't him. He didn't like that nagging feeling in gut telling him he knew whose work this was and he was really hoping it wasn't who he thought it was. He didn't need this, not now.

"I guess you took care of the prostitution ring" Diggle said as Oliver entered the lair.

Oliver flipped his hood down and walked past him to his computers. "I didn't" he told him as he sat down and started typing.

"Then who did? I heard about the bust on the police scanner" Diggle asked a little concerned and hoping that Helena wasn't back. Although if it was her, the men would be dead and he didn't hear anything about a fatalities.

Oliver turned around and held the feather up for Diggle to see. "A bird?" Diggle asked incredulously. "Was it ninja bird?" Diggle said with a laugh.

"Not a bird" Oliver replied intently and went back to focusing on what kind of feather this was. They had left a calling card for him. Whoever it was, wasn't an amateur, they knew what they were doing. So he had to find out who he was dealing with.

Diggle shook his head at Oliver's inability to get humor. The guy really needed to learn how to lighten up. He got what he was doing was important and it was helping the city. But whatever happened to him on the island had stripped away his humanity. What good was saving the city if you were left nothing but an empty shell at the end? He sighed and walked over to his charge to see if he found anything out.

"A canary" Oliver said sternly holding the feather up a picture of a feather on his computer screen.

"A canary" Diggle repeated. "Aren't they usually yellow?"

"This one is apparently is black" Oliver replied.

Tbc…


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver is in for the shock of his life when a fishnet stocking wearing, highly trained vigilante arrives in Starling City.

He went to answer the door after he tried and failed to get Laurel to stop working on her latest case for a few minutes. This was one of the few days where they were both home at the same time and they were supposed to order a pizza and have a quiet evening at home. But she felt bad for the woman from her case; she entered a contractor's agreement with for the company she owned with her husband until her husband died. And her husband had a sudden heart attack three weeks ago and she's now in the process of losing everything. So he knew Laurel wouldn't stop working on her case until she found a way to help the woman.

The doorbell rang and he sighed. He opened the door expecting the pizza delivery guy and his eyes widened as he saw someone else instead.

"Thomas Merlyn?" she said a little surprised to see him answering the door.

"Mrs. Lance" Tommy replied still in a little shock to see her there.

She was tapping the pen against the table as she read over the documents in front of her when she heard a voice she hadn't expected to hear, the voice of someone she hadn't seen in five years. She stared at Tommy standing by the door. She took a deep breath steeled herself and walked over to the door.

"Mom?" she asked when she saw her mother standing on the other side of the threshold. She was dressed in an expensive pants suit with heels and her brown hair fell in perfect curls framing her face.

"Laurel" she said with a smile. She looked from her daughter to Tommy Merlyn and figured out they were together and from what she could see of the apartment he lived there with her. She couldn't say she was happy about that. Her daughter, well both her daughters had a way of choosing rich assholes as boyfriends. And choosing the same one had cost Sarah her life. Going from Oliver Queen to Tommy Merlyn wasn't the choice she wanted her daughter to make. But she breathed deeply and kept the smile on her face, it wasn't her decision who her daughter wanted to spend her time with.

"What are you doing here?" Laurel asked not hiding the anger in her voice.

Dinah Lance knew her daughter had every right to hate her. She left her husband and her after Sarah's death. They all mourned in different ways and her way was to do what she did best. Get justice for what had happened. She knew it was no accident that Robert Queen's boat sunk, someone wanted him dead and her youngest daughter happened to be on that same boat. In order to investigate, she couldn't be where the people that had killed Robert could find her and do the same thing to her. She had to leave Starling City to keep Quentin and Laurel safe.

She didn't even know how to explain why she was back. She just couldn't be here without seeing her, seeing how she was doing. She had been keeping track of her and was so proud when she became a Lawyer and so glad she was doing it to help people. The justice system was corrupt, that she was happy to know that her daughter was one of the few fighting for justice the legal way. "I'm in town for a few days. I just wanted to see you" she told her.

"I haven't seen you in five years!" Laurel said to her mother.

"I know" Dinah replied. "I'm sorry…" she said unable to finish her sentence.

"You've seen me" Laurel replied.

She heard the footsteps approaching them and smelled the mushroom and green pepper pizza before the guy rounded the corner. "I have" she replied sadly as the delivery guy approached them. "I'll let you two enjoy your dinner then" she said looking at her daughter one last time and turned around and walked away.

Dinah Lance stood in her hotel room taking deep breaths. She knew that coming back here would be hard and she hadn't even seen her ex husband yet, at least not face to face. She expected Laurel to hate her for leaving like she did. But just seeing the anger and sadness in her child's eyes was something she felt in her soul.

She rolled her neck feeling it crack. She couldn't just stay inside tonight. She needed a release. She changed quickly and threw on a long jacket and walked out of her room, down the hall and out of the hotel.

A smile spread across her face, the one thing she could always depend on cities like Starling and Gotham is the nights were full of low lives and thugs. She flattened herself against the wall and listened. It was a robbery and the owner of the apartment was still inside she could hear her whimpering.

She was crouched in the windowsill surveying the scene. Her new eye mask curtsey of Wayne Industries tech division worked wonders in the dark. She saw three masked men were removing things from the apartment and taking it to the two waiting outside. The owner was a young woman in her twenties and she was tied up against the heater with a gag in her mouth. She was shaking and crying.

She whistled a tune to get their attention. She hadn't used her canary call for awhile, she usually wasn't one for theatrics but these thugs deserved to know who they were dealing with.

They all stopped in their tracks and turned towards her. "Hello boys" she said and smiled at them.

She dropped from position on the window and landed quietly in the room. "What the…?" One of them said and stared at her. "We were here first" another said.

"Oh, I'm not here for this, I'm here for you" she told them still smiling. She felt the adrenaline pumping through her body, she needed this.

The nearest one dropped what he was carrying and looked her up and down. She knew he was undressing her with his eyes.

"Take care of her, we don't have time for this" the one furthest back said to him.

He rushed her. She deftly moved to the side and used his own momentum against him and brought her fist into his gut. He grunted and she elbowed him in his kidney and he fell to the ground hard.

The second one looked at her in shock; he recovered quickly then pulled out a switchblade from his pocket. He flipped it open and approached her. Without hesitating she grabbed the knife-wielding arm by the wrist and bent it sharply behind him. The blade clattered to the ground. She wrenched the other arm back to join the first and pulled him down so she could lodge her knee into his back.

She kicked the blade under the heater and let go of his arms. He stood up quickly and went in for a punch, but she caught it long before it landed and used his force to flip him over onto his back knocking the wind out of him. She knew she was getting older and she knew wouldn't be able to keep this forever, but she kept herself in great shape and her skills had rarely failed her. She stood just as the third guy that gave the orders came for her. She swung her arm out fast and hit him in the neck, he staggered sideways and Dinah kicked him hard in the chest sending him flying into the couch, he hit it hard and it flipped over bringing him and it to the ground.

The second guy regained his breath and got up. She knew she was playing with them and she shouldn't He got up and staggered towards her swinging his arms. His lack of skill was pitiful so really not worth her time and energy. She clipped his jaw with her right fist and most likely broke his nose with her left. He was breathing heavily now with fear in his eyes knowing he was unmatched. So she landed a hard fast blow to a calculated spot under his ear and crumpled to the floor unconscious.

She barely had to time to regroup when she felt the first guy she knocked out come barreling towards her. She sent a roundhouse kick out but he ducked. He was quicker then she expected. He grabbed her leg and ran with her into the wall she hit it hard. He let go of her leg and pinned against the wall, she kneed him the groin. She didn't like using that move because it was too easy but when she had no choice it did the trick. He let go of her and she shoved him up against the wall. She was about to hit him when she heard a soft whooshing sound behind her she moved the side quickly just an a green tipped arrow sailed past her and landed with a thunk into the man's shirt pinning his arm to the wall. He screamed out in pain and tried to reach for the arrow so she hit him under the ear to shut him up. His head slummed forward and she turned around to see the Hood had joined her.

Oliver had been here for a few minutes but he had gotten caught up watching her. She looked almost graceful like she was dancing instead of knocking men unconscious. He was impressed.

Diggle had told him about a robbery ring that was terrorizing the city. So he told him he would check it out. They were working their way down specific streets on different streets and different days. They targeted young women that lived alone. He showed up here by luck and heard the commotion.

He looked at the woman standing in front of him. She was blonde with a black mask with white lights for the eyes. She was wearing a form fitting leather jacket and with leather shorts and fishnet stockings that went into metal tipped stiletto boots.

She tilted her head at him nodding behind her. He spun around and knocked his bow into the man that came up behind him. Before he could recover, Oliver stepped forward and delivered a swift kick into the guy's hip and another into his thigh. The guy staggered backwards from each blow. He delivered a final blow to the guy and went down. Oliver turned around and the woman was gone. He looked at the apartment owner who was now untied but still shivering against the wall. He was just wondering if the woman had called the police when he heard the sirens. That was his cue to leave.

Dinah Lance followed him from the rooftops as he made his way back to his lair. She had read about the Hood before coming back to Starling City, she always liked to get to know the local crime fighter.

Tbc…


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver is in for the shock of his life when a fishnet stocking wearing, highly trained vigilante arrives in Starling City.

They ate their breakfast in silence as Laurel was still thinking about the other night. She couldn't believe her mother would just show up here after having barely any contact for the last five years. They were all still mourning Sarah's death and she just up and left in the middle night without a word. Was she supposed to notice her mother had withdrawn from them when she dealing with her own grieving? They had just lost Sarah, she didn't expect to lose her mother too.

Dinah Lance was a strong woman and had taught her and Sarah to be strong as well. She taught them to go after what they wanted and not to let anyone push them around. She wanted them to know how to defend themselves in city full of crime, so she signed them up for self defense classes. Her father was reluctant at first but ultimately knew it was a good for them to learn because he wouldn't always be around to save them.

Her dad was devastated when he got the divorce papers in the mail. It was like she just wanted to disappear from their lives for good. And she had until now. Where did she go? And why was she back now? Were questions she had for her mother. Laurel knew Tommy had been staring at her. "What?" she asked bitterly.

"Don't you think you were a little harsh?" he asked her knowing she wasn't in the greatest of moods right now. But the silence was killing him.

"Harsh" Laurel repeated. "What did she expect?" Laurel asked washing her cereal bowl roughly. "A hug, for us to pretend like she didn't disappear five years ago?" She asked slamming the bowl into the dish rack.

"You're the one that told me to talk to my father" he reminded her. His father did nothing but disappoint him growing up. He didn't know why he'd believe he'd change.

"And that worked out well" Laurel said in a bitter tone.

"Your mother is nothing like my father" Tommy replied indignantly. "My father's been a stranger to me since I was little. Your mother was there for you. She loves you"

"You think I should forgive her?" Laurel asked incredulously.

"You don't have to forgive her, but now that's she's back you have a chance to ask her why she left"

"It wasn't the Hood" the woman told them as she sat on the couch squeezing her knees to her chest. "It was a blonde woman dressed in black" Detective Lance repeated what the woman had told them last night over and over again in his head. "She saved me" she had told them. The victim was twenty three year old Tracy Bennett. She arrived home from her waitressing shift and the men were waiting in her apartment. She tried to hit them with her purse but they ducked and one of them grabbed her arms, they threw her to the ground and tied her up. Then she heard this whistling sound, which sounded like a bird. She looked up to see her on her window sill.

He closed his eyes and took deep breaths. That was the last thing he wanted to hear. He already had the hood to deal with, he didn't need this. Not now…not her.

"Black Canary. That's what's she called" Oliver told Diggle as his screen filled with pages and pages of links from the Gotham Times, The Gotham Herald and the Gotham Gazette. He clicked on the articles and scanned through them. They described her as 5'7" blonde and British. They called her a highly trained and skilled martial artist, some called her a ninja. The oldest article he found was from 1979. So whoever she was, she was good and she'd been doing this for a long time.

Diggle was next to him reading articles on his own screen. "She's not hero. This is not justice. The law is in place for a reason. Black Canary is just as dangerous the criminals she hunts down" he read out loud and looked at Oliver. "Said Officer Quentin Lance of the Gotham City Police"

Oliver turned to him. "Detective Lance?" Ollie said and slid his chair over to read what was on Diggle's screen. He vaguely remembered Laurel saying she was from Gotham City, but they moved here when she was young so she didn't remember much of it.

"I guess that explains why he hates you so much" Diggle said to him.

"Why?" Oliver asked not getting it and continued to read the article.

"You're not his first" Diggle said with a small laugh. "He's had to deal with the Black Canary and it doesn't look like he ever caught her."

Dinah Lance stepped out of shower the next morning and examined the purplish mark on her back. Her age was showing more and more, she couldn't just bounce back like she used too. She thought about retiring her alter go before but it had been a part of her for so long it's hard to just let go. She had find out who sabotaged the Queen's yacht and killed her daughter first before she thought about doing anything else.

She heard her phone buzzing in the next room. She picked it up thinking it was Bruce. She had left him a message last night to send her more leather gloves because the ones she had were pretty much worn out. She sucked in her breath when she Laurel's name flash across the screen. "Hello" she tried to say cheerfully but not too eagerly. She knew had a lot of making up to do. She had never became the Black Canary for revenge, it always been about getting the ones that fell through cracks. But when her daughter died, everything changed. And she knew a revenge minded person didn't think clearly. Leaving like she did was a mistake. She lost one daughter, she couldn't lose both.

"I didn't really like the way we left things last night" Laurel began. "So I was wondering if you like to come over for dinner tonight?"

Dinah could hear it in her daughter's voice that she wasn't that eager to be asking her this. She was doing this for a reason and she knew what that reason was. But could she tell her was the real question. Could she tell her daughter who she was and what she really did all those nights she stayed out late. "I would love that?" Dinah answered her daughter.

"How's eight o'clock?" Laurel asked.

"Eight's good for me. I'll see you then" Dinah said pressed the button on her phone to hang it up.

She walked down the street with her hands in her pocket, thinking of what she should say to Laurel. Being in her hotel room she felt trapped so she needed to get some air. Should she tell her truth? How would that go over? Was her daughter prepared to know her secret?

Suddenly she heard a scream come from the ally up ahead. She was supposed to be getting ready for dinner. Who was she kidding; she had her outfit on underneath her jacket. This is what she did; this is what she was good at doing.

She pulled her wig and mask from her purse and put them on and peered around the corner. In the lone shaft of light in the dark alleyway she saw a brunette teenager on her knees, having a violent tug-of-war for her purse. A tall lanky man in black overcoat was yanking at the handbag. But her eyes flashed to another man coming up behind them. Her mask's screen zoomed in on the shiny metal being pulled from his jacket pocket.

She whistled to get their attention, they both turned and that was all the time she needed her feet left the ground. She plowed right into the one holding the gun with a full flying tackle, then used her momentum to continue rolling into a graceful somersault. The knife clattered to the pavement. She snatched it up. The other one, a tall greasy haired man with a black goatee got over his initial shock and lunched for her with a knife in his hand.

Dinah relaxed her body as he came at her and with one effortless smooth motion she reached for his wrist and stepped out of his way—cracking his arm over her bent knee with her right hand simultaneously whipping him with the back of head with handle of the knife with the left.

As he fell she deftly swiped the knife from his grasp with her free hand. He collapsed on top of his friend.

She looked toward the young woman who had smashed herself against the wall shaking in fear. "Go" she told her as Dinah saw more men emerging from the other side of the alley. The teenager looked vaguely familiar but she didn't have time to go through her memory to figure out who she was. "Now" she said again more forcefully and getting into a defensive stance. More people meant this wasn't just a mugging, it was a kidnapping. The girl got up and ran in the opposite direction. She ruined an abduction attempt, so this wasn't going to be as easy as she thought it would be.

She heard someone land softly behind her, she flipped both knifes around and held them outwards and turned to face the next assailant. It was the Hood. They looked at each other for only moment because now even more men were coming from the side the Hood had just come from. They were surrounded.

"Are you with me?" she asked him. He nodded and they both turned keeping their backs against each other and prepared for a fight.

Tbc…


	4. Chapter 4

The men formed a loose circle around them, trapping them in the middle. With his back towards the Black Canary, the Hood waited for the attack.

The first guy came at him; he lashed out with a kick that sent him flying backwards into the wall. The next guy lunched and he swung his bow into his solar plexus, when he doubled over Oliver swung his bow up from underneath making the guys head snap back before he fell to the ground. The first guy recovered and charged a swift roundhouse kick connected with his head with an audible crack.

Oliver took a quick glance at the Black Canary and saw her attacker come at her with swinging punch; she easily dodged it and firmly grasped his hand, pulled and used the guy's momentum to flip him over her head. The guy's body thumped to the ground hard.

Oliver didn't have that much time to admire her work when another guy lunched at him. Oliver moved to the side, grabbed the back of the man's neck and slammed his head into his knee and threw him backwards.

The rest of their fight was a frenzied whirlwind of kicks and punches. Not since Yao Fei and Slade had he fought with someone with such precision. Another came at her and with pinpoint accuracy the heel of her foot struck his forehead and he dropped to the ground.

Oliver whirled around just as the guy lunched at him, his bow swung up catching the guy under his neck and snap kick send the guy into the wall cracking his head against it he slid down the wall and was still. Men were lying unconscious all around them and the few left standing were running the other direction down the alley, their footsteps fading into silence.

Oliver took a breath and turned to face her. He looked around the alley, she was gone again. I guess that's what it felt like when he did that to people. It was annoying because he actually wanted to talk to her.

Laurel looked at the time on her phone and sighed. "It's only 8:15" Tommy said trying to sound hopeful. He was used to being stood up by his father, so a few minutes late didn't bother him.

Laurel shook her head. "I remember sometimes she'd come home in the middle of night, thinking we didn't notice, then when we'd ask about it. She'd lie" Laurel looked at her phone again, it read 8:30, she placed the phone on the table by the door.

"My dad would sleep at the office sometimes" Tommy told her with a smile. And that's not counting the two years he was being raised by nannies.

Laurel turned to look at him. "My mom owned a flower shop. I doubt late nights were necessary." She and Sarah would spend hours talking about what she could be doing. Sarah suggested she was a spy and then they'd make up missions she would have. As they got older, they started thinking she was having an affair. Their dad never seemed to ask or even notice her late night excursions, since he was the one that usually worked all night. So she wasn't even sure he knew anything about it.

"Well from what I remember her flower shop always looked nice. So maybe taking care of your plants at night helps" he suggested, not really believing in his suggestion but he was just trying to make her feel better. "And you had that hot babysitter, what was her name? Barbara or something" Tommy said recalling seeing her when he was younger.

They heard a knock on the door. Laurel took a deep breath and opened it.

"I'm so sorry I'm late" Dinah Lance said standing on the other side of the door. Her time management skills had suffered since becoming Black Canary full time again. She used to be a little better at it. And this wasn't how she wanted to make it up to her daughter. "I brought this" she said holding out the bottle of wine.

Tommy took it from her since Laurel was still just staring at her. "Wow" he whistled looking at the bottle of wine. He knew for a fact that this bottle started at two hundred and fifty dollars. So now he wondered where she had gotten it, Laurel's family was never part of the wealthy elite.

She saw Tommy staring at the bottle, Bruce had given it her as a gift, and she knew it wasn't that right to re-gift it but she didn't want to show up empty handed and she didn't have time to buy something else. Now she regretted it, because Laurel might not have noticed, but she forgot Tommy Merlyn would be here. And he had noticed that it was an expensive bottle.

"What?" Laurel asked looking at her boyfriend.

Tommy looked at Mrs. Lance and saw her pleading with him and he didn't want to start anything with Laurel and her mother. He'd give her the chance to explain herself first. "Nothing, this is just really great wine. Thank you Mrs. Lance" he said with a smile.

Dinah smiled relieved at Tommy. Maybe she had misjudged the boy, maybe he wasn't like his father. "Something smells good" she told them still standing outside the apartment.

"It should it's from Sorrento's" Tommy told her.

"They're still around? I love Sorrento's" Dinah replied.

"I remembered that's why I ordered from them" Laurel finally spoke to her mother.

"You wanted to eat dinner from there every day when you were little" Dinah replied remembering happier times with her children.

"We should probably eat before it gets cold" Laurel replied not wanting to talk about the past. It was the present she was more interested in.

They were eating their food and drinking the wine. Laurel wanted to get right into where mother went, but Tommy kept bringing up other subjects, the weather, politics, and the economy. "I don't know if you've heard but Starling City has our very own vigilante"

"Right, he's called the Hood or something" Dinah replied sipping her wine. "Dumb name but I have heard about him" she said with a small smile.

"Dad, really has a grudge against him. He thinks that he's just as much a criminal as the ones he takes down"

Dinah smiled to herself, that's exactly what her husband used to say about the Black Canary. "I don't know about that, he's catching the criminals that have gotten away with crimes or are still getting away with them" Dinah replied.

"You think he's doing… good?" Laurel asked surprised to see her mother on the Hood's side. She would've thought she felt the same way as her dad. Laurel didn't entirely agree with her father, but she'd been with the Hood enough times for him to scare her. Sometimes it appeared he didn't know when to stop and he has killed people.

"I think he's bringing justice to this city" Dinah replied.

"Really?" Tommy piped up. "Justice? He's killing people, he's dangerous"

"I won't argue that his methods need work, however he is cleaning up the streets" Dinah replied.

"What?" Laurel asked in shock. She would never in a million years think her mother would side with vigilante justice. "That's not justice; justice is facing a trial by law"

Dinah leaned back in her chair and looked at her daughter. "You really believe that?" she asked. Then she softened her voice. "You help people that no one else will and you don't do it for the money and that makes me prouder than you can ever imagine. But our justice system is flawed and this city is corrupt, all it takes is a simple technicality or some money exchanging hands and the criminal is back on the streets. Sometimes you have to do what is necessary to get them off the streets for good" she told them.

"I guess I just never pegged you as one that supports vigilante justice" Laurel told her mother. She'd never seen this side of her mother before and that coupled with the fact that she took off after Sarah's death made her even more curious and worried as to what she's been up to.

They took their wine to living room to enjoy the Tiramisu near the fireplace. Laurel sat down next to Tommy and he was right the wine tasted amazing. She took a drink and sat her glass down on the table. "Where did you go?" she blurted out not meaning to make it sound so rushed.

She had been waiting for Laurel to ask that question all night. She supposed she needed more alcohol to give her the courage. "I went to Gotham"

"Gotham? Why?" Laurel asked. That was her birthplace but she didn't remember anything about it.

Dinah breathed out slowly. "I needed to get away…from this city and everything about it…and I couldn't take you or your father with me"

Laurel stared at her mother trying to understand what she saying. "You needed to get away?" she asked. "We needed you…I need you"

Dinah lowered her head. "I know" she said quietly.

"What aren't you telling me?" Laurel asked she knew her mother was hiding something. "I thought I had lost you too, but when I think about, I think that a part of you was always somewhere else." She saw her mother avert her eyes and she knew she was right. "Whatever it is I can handle the truth" she said then added. "I deserve the truth."

Dinah sighed. She knew it would come down to this someday. But it was her secret that was keeping them safe. "You do and so does your father, but… I can't"

"That's it, you can't?" Laurel asked with an incredulous laugh.

Dinah Lance nodded and looked at the disappointment in her daughters eyes. It was times like these that made her wonder if this was really worth it. Lying to everyone, putting the cause first you risked alienating everyone you love.

Laurel pursed her lips and took her eyes off her mother's. She couldn't believe this. She didn't expect her mother to tell her everything right away, but to just tell her she wasn't going to be honest with her wasn't what she was expecting. Laurel was surprised to hear another knock on her door.

"Are you expecting someone else?" Tommy asked Laurel.

"No" she replied and stood up to answer the door and to get away from her mother before she said something she'd regret later.

Tommy stared awkwardly at the floor then stood up and took the plates to the kitchen.

Dinah sighed and went to the mantle. She browsed the pictures on it until she came to one of them. She picked it up to get a better a look. It was Laurel and Oliver at some Queen event. She looked past them to young girl in the background, her eyes widened as she recognized her. That was the girl she saved in the alley tonight. Someone was trying to abduct Thea Queen.

Laurel opened the door to find her Dad standing there. "Dad?" she asked.

"You weren't answering your phone, I wanted to make sure you were alright" Quentin Lance said with the worry evident in his voice.

Laurel looked for her phone and then saw it on the table. She picked it up and saw the missed calls from him. "Sorry it must be on silent" she told him. "I'm fine" she still wasn't entirely over being used by him to catch the Hood. Both her parents seemed to be disappointing her of late.

"I'm sorry but there's…" Dinah said rushing into the apartment's foyer then stopped when she saw him. "Quentin" she said as her voice caught in her throat.

"Dinah?" he asked his brows furrowing in surprise. His eyes looked his wife over, she was actually standing there. He was speechless; he hadn't seen her in five years. She didn't even come to the divorce proceedings; she left him everything and just signed the papers which her Lawyer gave to him. He tried calling her, but she had changed her number, he used the police systems to find her but it was like she had just vanished. But now here she was.

"When…why?" Quentin asked trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. Thea Queen was almost abducted today; they found a few of the unconscious men that had tried. All of them said it was the Hood and one said the others were afraid to say that a woman had been there too, a woman that moved like a blurred ballerina. That's why he came to check on his daughter. He knew that those men were most likely after a ransom and Laurel wouldn't fit that M.O. But she had been attacked before and he was just wanted to make sure she was okay. He did not expect to see his wife standing in their daughter's living room.

"You have somewhere to be, mother?" Laurel asked her, not entirely sure if she cared anymore. She wanted answers and her mother not only wouldn't answer them she told her she wouldn't. If her mother wanted to keep secrets she wasn't going to stop her, but she could stop asking and caring. She could disappear for five years only calling on her birthday they could continue the same relationship.

"I got in a few day ago and I…wanted to see Laurel" Dinah replied as she rubbed her hand behind her neck as she answered her husband. She did miss him sometimes. But they had very different views and that drove them further apart. And she knew it wasn't fair to him since he didn't know about hers. That's why she figured if she just left and made him hate her it would be easier for him to move on. She knew how selfish that sounded, but there were things she needed to do and she couldn't let anything happen to them. She turned to Laurel to answer hers. "I do, and again I'm sorry and I know I've said that a lot in past two days so it's not helping my case. But I am sorry Laurel…for everything" with that she walked past her husband without looking at him and quickly left the building.

Oliver stormed into his lair with Diggle and Felicity hurrying in behind him. He had just heard that his sister had almost been abducted in that alley he was just fighting in with the Black Canary.

"Oliver, I think we need to calm down and think about this" Diggle said to him.

"They went after my sister" Oliver said spinning around to face him with the rage taking over his features.

"I know, but we don't know who did that" Diggle said, then he noticed that Oliver was staring at his desk. Diggle walked closer and saw that two black feathers were lying on his keyboard.

"Looks like your bird friend is molting" Felicity said cheerfully trying to lighten the mood. When she got no response she took a few steps back.

"The Black Canary was here?" DIggle asked.

"Not was…is" Oliver responded and turned around and scanned the room.

"Oliver Queen, I'll have to say I wasn't expecting that" they all spun around to listen to where the British voice came from. "That island must have really changed you" she said as she dropped from the rafters and landed silently on the floor.

"What are you doing here?" Oliver asked stoically. She had saved his sister so he was grateful for that. But he had to know what her agenda was.

"We have similar interests you and me" She replied and held up a small brown booklet. "I'm here to stop the Undertaking"

Oliver stared at the book in her hand. How many books where there? "You know what the Undertaking is?" He asked her.

"I have a hypothesis, but I don't have all the pieces to provide actual proof." she told him. Whatever was going on here it appeared they were getting desperate enough for them to turn on each other. And that was dangerous for everyone. Stopping them is what will make everything worth it.

"We don't need proof we need to stop it before it happens" Oliver answered gruffly. The Black Canary nodded her head. Oliver looked at her. "You know who I am and if we're to work together it's only fair that I know who I'm dealing with"

They all watched as she reached up and removed the blonde wig from her head, she then pulled the pins holding her real hair up and she shook the brown tresses out as it fell in waves down her shoulders. She reached behind her head and they hear clicking sound and she slowly removed the mask from her face and looked at him.

Oliver sucked in his breath audibly. "Mrs. Lance!" he shouted incredulously with more emotion then he had ever shown before.

"Hello Oliver" she replied in an American accent.

Tbc…


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver is in for the shock of his life when a fishnet stocking wearing, highly trained vigilante arrives in Starling City.

Dinah smiled at her daughter's former boyfriend. She was surprised to find out that in her husband's words he was the vigilante terrorizing Starling City. "You fight like a brute, but we can work on that"

Oliver stared at the woman standing in front of him with his mouth slightly agape. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. Yep she was still there. He'd never seen anyone fight like her before and now he finds out that he was fighting alongside Laurel's mother. Laurel's mother was the Black Canary.

Shock wouldn't even begin to describe what his mind was going through right now. He had known there had to be other vigilantes out there, cities all over were being torn apart by crime. But he never expected to know one that scolded him for sticking his finger in the cookie batter she was making when he was in third grade or one that caught him sneaking out of Laurel's bedroom in nothing but his boxers when they were in high school.

"Lance, as in Detective Lance?" Felicity asked trying to understand what was happening. Diggle had just told her that another vigilante was in the city, a woman with fighting skills that impressed Oliver.

"Does he know?" John Diggle asked. He didn't really know the Lance's but this was surprising.

"No" Dinah replied to him. Diggle nodded. Detective Lance's wife was a vigilante, the way he goes after Oliver it would probably destroy him to find that out.

"Does Laurel?" Oliver asked with furrowed brows.

"No, she doesn't know either. I've kept it for my family to keep them safe" she told him as she tossed him her book.

Oliver caught it and looked at her with her eyes she told him to open it. He did and found that she had crossed out names as well. He walked over to where he kept the book his father gave him. He opened his to see if they were the same. They were. "Where did you get this?"

"I took it from a man named Frank" was all she said to them.

Oliver flipped through both books noticing she had taken care of a few of the people on his list. He breathed out and closed the book. "The Undertaking, what do you know about it?" he asked. He was back to business. She obviously knew more than him, so he could use her help. And so far she seemed sane.

"Can I use your computer? She asked him. Oliver nodded.

Dinah walked over to the computer console and sat down. She took out her cell phone and plugged it into the computer. Then she reached by her ear. "Oracle, do you have lock on my location?"

"Oracle?" Felicity asked. "Is that your computer's name?"

"What?" Dinah asked the younger woman. "No, she's a person. I have a team too" she told her and started typing.

Felicity leaned forward interested in what she was doing. She saw Dinah click on file that was downloaded to her system. Whoever that other person was she got past her security, which upset her a little bit. "Your system is impressive" She told me to tell you that" Dinah said as she turned to look at her.

"Oh" Felicity said nodding her head proudly. However she had still gotten past it. So she needed to work on it and she did love a challenge.

Dinah typed something else into the computer a screen popped up with a woman on it. She smiled at her friend. "This is…Arrow…" she said refusing to call the Hood. "…otherwise known as Oliver Queen and this is his team John Diggle and Felicity Smoak. And this is Barbara Gordan. Aka Oracle." She told them.

"Hello" Barbara said waving on the screen.

Oliver looked at the red haired woman on the screen, she looked familiar somehow then he remembered she was Laurel and Sarah's hot babysitter, who was also involved in fighting crime. Oliver shook his head at that.

"Can you pull up what we discovered?" Dinah asked her. The screen filled with a couple of pictures with colorful lines on them.

"What is that?" Oliver asked.

"That is a map of the sewer system underneath the glades" Dinah answered.

"Where did you get that from?" Diggle asked coming over to study the screen. The Undertaking is what Mrs. Queen had talked about with someone else. Oliver didn't believe his mother was involved in whatever it is and if whatever it is involved a map of a sewer system it didn't sound good.

"I took it off a man named William Ross, you can take him off your list" Dinah said turning to Oliver.

"Is he dead?" Felicity asked wondering if all vigilantes were as reckless as Oliver.

"No, he'll be rotting in jail for the rest of his life" Dinah said.

"What is the Undertaking? Why do you think they have this map?" Diggle asked, waiting for the horrible news that would be the answer.

Oliver stared at her waiting for her reply. His father told him that he failed this city because he wouldn't be able to stop what was happening. Oliver tried to ask him what it was, but he took that answer to his grave and tasked him with getting rid of everyone on list before it could happen.

Dinah took a breath as she looked at them. They were so young and inexperienced with this. It took more than just training to do what they do. She looked at Barbara. None of them knew the true cost of putting on the costume and that lying to your loved one was the easy part. "We believe that the Undertaking is a planning to place high level explosives in strategic places in the sewer system"

"They want to destroy the glades" Diggle said, horrified at the thought.

Dinah nodded at the former soldier. "They believe that the poor are responsible for all the crime. If you get rid of the poor people, you get rid of the crime"

"That's insane!" Felicity exclaimed "Not everyone in the Glades is criminal. They'd be killing hundreds of innocents!"

"I believe they know that and are willing to sacrifice the few to save the many" Dinah replied watching as Felicity put her hand over mouth and stumble backwards into one of the tables. Diggle also had a horrified expression on his face.

"We can't let them kill all those innocent people" Oliver said. "We have to stop them." He said and went stormed off to get his hood. He stopped suddenly when he felt a breeze pass by him, the knife vibrated as it land in the lock of truck

"Where do you think you're going?" Dinah said in a mothering tone.

"You have a knife?" Felicity asked. "Where do you even keep that?" She asked staring at her skin tight outfit. She looked to Diggle for answers. He was just as shocked as she was.

Oliver stared at the knife as it came to a stop, he was breathing heavily as he clenched his fists.

"Is this what you do? Just run off after people with no plan in place?" she asked him. When she first looked into Oliver's eyes all she could see all the rage inside him. Anger wouldn't help him survive this life. She needed to help him see that.

"Yes" Diggle and Felicity responded in unison.

"That's a good way to get people killed including yourself" She told him.

"I have a plan" Oliver said without turning around, he ripped the knife from the lock and lifted the lid of the trunk.

"And what's that?" Dinah asked.

"Go after the people on the list" he told her and took out his hood and his bow. He didn't need lessons, he knew what he had to do to save this city.

"Tonight?" she asked him. "You're going to take care of everyone on your list." She said not moving from where she stood. "Turn around and look at me, Oliver"

Oliver breathed out loudly. She sounded like a mother and that's not what he needed right now. She asked him again and he slowly turned to face her.

"Most of the people on that list are just cogs in the machine. They probably don't even know what they are a part of. To stop it you have to go after the people that built the machine" They needed to stop this before it happened. They needed to find out who was in charge.

Tbc…


End file.
